Local vs Company-owned store experience

[rochrunner]

There were discussions here a while ago about Specialized buying up a lot of locally-owned bike chains, which could have good or bad outcomes (Trek is also doing this). So I thought I'd share my recent experience, although it's obviously a sample size of one as far as making general conclusions would be concerned.

I have two local Specialized two-store chains in my area, one of which has a store just a couple miles away and the other a good bit farther. The closer one is where I've bought a number of Specialized (and one Giant) bikes over the years. But their service and in-store "attitude" has always been an off and on thing, and after their best sales guy left a few years ago I decided to try the other chain when buying my Vado 4.0. That shop had a much friendlier vibe and I got the Vado in March, 2020, in the pre-pandemic days when supply was not a problem.

When I decided to get my 2022 Vado SL, I put in an order with the same store back in early October when they told me they had no idea about the 2022 delivery schedule, etc. But anyway I was "on the list" and they even called me to let me know about the price increase on the 2022s.

At some time later, Specialized started buying up stores around the state. The chain where I bought my Vado 4 and was on the list for the SL turned them down, preferring to keep personal control, but the closer shop that I'd done business with often in the past accepted the buy-out. Thinking that maybe there would be a general improvement there, I went in and put a deposit on the SL in early January. Two months later, I have my bike and still have not heard anything from the store where I've been on the list since October! In addition, the closer store has been extensively remodeled and has a much larger selection of parts and accessories. The sales people are also acting more professional, wear Specialized shirts, etc.

So my experience thus far is that having the dealership owned directly by the company has been a good thing, at least from my personal standpoint. YMMV.

 

[Deacon Blues]

I wonder if a Specialized owned shop gets product before the non-Specialized owned shop. I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

 

[Bikeknit]

Two issues here. First, you can't generalize. There are some advantages to scale. A bigger store with a national network is often going to be able to have more selection or get you product sooner. Individual stores are going to be "individual". Some will have an attitude. There's a small shop in my city where the owner has been known to tell women that a certain bike is "too much bike" for them, without knowing anything about how much they ride etc. We had another shop that had great service but they always struggled to have sufficient inventory etc. We used their great mechanic but often had to buy equipment elsewhere. They didn't make it. I just bought my e-bike from another independent shop near me. They are helpful and close but the truth is if the bike I wanted was available a lot faster elsewhere that's probably where I'd go. My concern with bike shops consolidating into huge mega businesses is that once they've pushed out the competition that good service and selection will go away as they work on maximizing profits. So I'll generally go first to my local shop but hit the big stores if I need to.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The Specialized Warsaw Brand Store has a history shorter than 2 years. They carry Specialized/S-Works gear only (plus Ass Saver fenders, 100% goggles and Wahoo bike computers). They are allowed to participate in the Specialized Delivery. The store's floor is full, they offer a day or a weekend (paid) demo rides, they organise events during which they rent a big number of demo bikes/e-bikes free of charge and lead guided rides, they offer bike washing, and their service department has always got time for you, even if you bring a non-Specialized e-bike. What more do you need?

My post-warranty Vado after having been serviced, washed, tyres replaced. The Electrak tyres were delivered to the store by Specialized Europe (Switzerland) as Specialized Delivery. The store might have got some commission on the tyres but they earned mostly by doing the service to my Vado.

Some funny story: The leading salesman walked my Vado into the service area and merrily addressed the other guy: "Kamil, you are expected to provide a VIP service for this gentleman!" These people are so likeable!

 

[mschwett]

it’s a little early to say for me, but the shop i bought my creo at around a year ago was purchased by specialized. i have since bought another bike via click-n-collect which was assembled/upgraded by them, and have continued to use them for service of several types both before and after the ownership change. same experienced and fastidious mechanics, same rates, slightly improved availability due to more staff, more bikes on the floor (maybe due to gradual easing of supply chain problems). when i asked the lead sales and shop guys there about it, they were fairly tight lipped about the impact from their side other than that they were happy to see more bikes flowing…

i have another local shop (within a few minutes walk in fact) which is much smaller and also a specialized dealer. i’ve never bought a bike there but have had a couple bikes serviced there, and occasionally stop in when i’ve run up against a tool i don’t have or a tire problem. they’re clearly smaller and have less resources but have been similarly excellent in all ways.

my third experience has been with mike’s bikes, a regional chain which was bought by the parent computer of cervelo and other bike brands. formerly they were a big specialized dealer. no bad experiences there although i can’t speak quite as highly about them as the other two for various reasons. we bought my daughters bike there, and no complaints at all, but the process of shopping for an aethos was unsatisfying and when i bought new wheels there for my creo, they gave me some bad info and i ended up having to do the work myself to get my bike rolling again.

 

[rochrunner]

@Bikeknit , just to clarify, I wasn't generalizing but presenting my experience anecdotally: the company store got me a bike in two months that the independent shop still hasn't received in six. Also, the company owned shop hasn't changed its name, still has mostly the same employees, etc. It's mainly been organized and stocked a lot better, but the only way I even knew that they had been bought out is that I asked them about it. Probably a lot of their regular customers still don't know.

 

[Bikeknit]

@Bikeknit , just to clarify, I wasn't generalizing but presenting my experience anecdotally: the company store got me a bike in two months that the independent shop still hasn't received in six. Also, the company owned shop hasn't changed its name, still has mostly the same employees, etc. It's mainly been organized and stocked a lot better, but the only way I even knew that they had been bought out is that I asked them about it. Probably a lot of their regular customers still don't know.

I understand. Didn't mean to say otherwise.

 

[Elkman]

It is not a good thing for the local community when owner operated businesses that recycle the money then get back into the local community are replaced by corporate controlled ones. With Wal-Mart about $400,000 in subsidies for each store costs the community and all the profits go to Bentonville and the Walton family. Apple is another company that makes billions in profits but pays its stores employees poorly while making use of slave labor in China.

I bought two Specialized Creo SL bikes last year from independent stores who get zero support from Specialized. With one local dealer their phone number was put in wrong on the Specialized website and with the other local dealer they were not shown as a Specialized dealer at all. And then we have the treatment of Mikes Bikes and its customers.

With the company based in Switzerland and having its products produced in Taiwan and Vietnam and now buying out independent bike shops they are certainly not on the good corporate citizen list.

 

[mschwett]

It is not a good thing for the local community when owner operated businesses that recycle the money then get back into the local community are replaced by corporate controlled ones. With Wal-Mart about $400,000 in subsidies for each store costs the community and all the profits go to Bentonville and the Walton family. Apple is another company that makes billions in profits but pays its stores employees poorly while making use of slave labor in China.

I bought two Specialized Creo SL bikes last year from independent stores who get zero support from Specialized. With one local dealer their phone number was put in wrong on the Specialized website and with the other local dealer they were not shown as a Specialized dealer at all. And then we have the treatment of Mikes Bikes and its customers.

With the company based in Switzerland and having its products produced in Taiwan and Vietnam and now buying out independent bike shops they are certainly not on the good corporate citizen list.

specialized is not based in switzerland, they’re headquartered in the san francisco bay area and always have been. a simple google search would have confirmed this. they have an engineering team (or joint venture?) in switzerland for eBikes and maybe other components. of course many parts are made in taiwan (frames) and japan or other places, and a taiwanese bike company owns a minority stake AFAIK.

apple does not pay it’s store employees poorly. compared to other retail positions, they seem to be significantly above average, and their generally very positive attitude suggests they’re not indentured servants.

i don’t disagree about the effect of stores like walmart on local communities. that’s one reason i never have, and never will shop there, online or in person. i’ve set foot once in a walmart.

i am and was a customer of both mike’s bikes and specialized. there was no mistreatment, only the inevitable result of business differences. you can hardly expect specialized to continue to allocate a disproportionate share of their best product to a chain which sold itself to one of their major competitors rather than specialized.

whether “specialized owned retail” over time become less good neighbors and community citizens than the shop owners they replaced is an open question. it certainly hasn’t happened here (my primary LBS was sold to specialized and they’re happy as clams, it seems) yet. if you have direct evidence to the contrary i’d love to see it, rather than equating their behavior to walmart.

 

[mschwett]

i will add, for more firsthand knowledge, that my “company owned store experience” (previous a locally individual owned) has improved. they’ve hired additional staff, wait times for service are down, the same fastidious expert mechanics are still there, my favorite sales/advice guy has a more senior role, and they have more bikes.

happened to be next door this weekend with my kids and popped in to see if they had a bike (had to be blue) for my 10 year old who has outgrown her public cruiser. they were super helpful, let her try plenty of things, leading to a test ride on an XS sirrus which she loved, and we picked up later in the day. i had originally been thinking a very small diverge but this was a better fit for her hands.

so there’s my most recent “corporate owned retail” experience. they also just built an aethos for me, and have done a ton of work on my creo.

funny picture because it’s leaning on my s-works aethos

 

[Stefan Mikes]

To clarify the matters: Cham, Switzerland is the host of both Specialized Turbo Division (design & engineering for e-bikes) and Specialized Europe GmbH, the European distributor.
Specialized Bicycle Components is headquartered at 15130 Concord Cir, Morgan Hill, CA 95037, United States.

 

[Mulezen]

MY LBS (3 stores) where I bought my Trek no longer has a direct association with Trek. They will have no problem serving my older bike off warranty (Former employee is Bosch rep) They still have a relationship with Specialized and others. I don’t see the positive for the consumer. Less choice for sure. After the register guy told me they could no longer order Trek parts for me (kickstand) a tech said to check out the new small builders. This gobbling of small LBS’s by dominant brands devalues the community connections But is perhaps a boon for small builders like Zen.

 

[rochrunner]

happened to be next door this weekend with my kids and popped in to see if they had a bike (had to be blue) for my 10 year old who has outgrown her public cruiser. they were super helpful, let her try plenty of things, leading to a test ride on an XS sirrus which she loved, and we picked up later in the day. i had originally been thinking a very small diverge but this was a better fit for her hands.

so there’s my most recent “corporate owned retail” experience. they also just built an aethos for me, and have done a ton of work on my creo.

funny picture because it’s leaning on my s-works aethos

Great picture, @mschwett ! One of my biggest personal failures as a parent was that I was not able to teach my son to ride, but at that time of his life we had a number of higher-priority issues to deal with and bike riding just sort of fell by the wayside (you can't force someone to learn to ride!).

 

[BioWheel]

Sirrus is beautiful bike - love the color as well. In my opinion - chain is a bit too long and would take an inch or two out. Like the black fork too. But reminds me, that I could get a FutureShock put on my VadoSL4.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

But reminds me, that I could get a FutureShock put on my VadoSL4.

Well, Redshift ShockStop is an excellent alternative )

 

[Mulezen]

Or Kinect

 

[PDoz]

I'm not a fan of supermarket style cycling.

My lbs of choice has been desperately trying to carry on as a multi brand dealer , mostly because you can't rely on a particular brand having the perfect bike each year.

Unfortunately, that puts them ( and me) as lower priority for specialized. Because they are not exclusive, their orders keep getting delayed / sent elsewhere. I recently had some warranty work done on my levo sl and the traditional specialized support has changed from their single phone call acceptance to a week of emails / arguing by my dealer.

Specialized seems to have forgotten that ultimately it's the consumer who keeps them in business. To treat consumers differently depending on which shop they use is disrespectful. So enjoy the smiling supermarket experience but keep in mind what happened to farmers / green grocers and ultimately your choice when supermarkets took over.

 

[Mulezen]

This morning while at PT (shoulder) my roadie therapist told me that my local LBS Carytown Bikes (3 stores) had been snapped up by Specialized. I had thought something was afoot when they could no longer order TREK parts. The therapist does not think this is a positive thing. I stopped at LBS on the way home to pick up my bike and the manager said this has improved communication with Specialized central for better service/supplies. She also said she is depending on friends at Trek (and Giant) to get parts.
I don’t care for yet another agglomeration of small business’. Big-big-big is not necessarily better. My therapist had more nuanced complaints about the situation. In the meantime Spring has sprung and I have a new chain and cassette, and Schwabe’s air plus tubes. Ride on.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

My lbs of choice has been desperately trying to carry on as a multi brand dealer , mostly because you can't rely on a particular brand having the perfect bike each year.

Unfortunately, that puts them ( and me) as lower priority for specialized. Because they are not exclusive, their orders keep getting delayed / sent elsewhere. I recently had some warranty work done on my levo sl and the traditional specialized support has changed from their single phone call acceptance to a week of emails / arguing by my dealer.

I had some thinking about what you had said.

Your LBS owner wanted to pick the best from the best of different brands. That might have worked in the pre-pandemic times. As it is today, the guy has become a pariah for all the brands he's trying to sell. Low sales quota for each brand, for one.

I think the times have changed a lot.

Today, I paid a visit to the Specialized Brand Store. They got a huge delivery of bikes. Improbably huge. And they are expected to sell all of them. This is how it works when you sell for a single brand only with full dedication. (Interestingly, the follow the Specialized policy that obviously states selling e-bikes has become a priority. When you enter the showroom, the first thing you can see are e-bikes).

 

[Mulezen]

My therapist went into the store last week to build some new wheels. He wanted to use his banked loyalty points from his long term account. He couldn‘t because what he wanted (Bontrager) no longer is sold there. The LBS (3 stores) were 11-14 of the independents on the East Coast Specialize acquired during their recent acquisition surge. The big brand (could be Trek or Giant too) are told if you want to continue distributing our brand you will sell to us. My LBS told me they continue to sell a few specialty brands.